Rise and Fall: Understanding genetic progress for lodging resistance in elite spring wheat

Lodging, an irreversible displacement of crops from their upright position, reduces wheat grain yield and quality. Its causes are complex, involving the interaction between genotype, environmental factors including abiotic and biotic stresses and crop management. There is a lack of robust selection tools available for breeders to accurately assess and select for lodging resistance as natural lodging (under field conditions) occurrence is not consistent in every crop cycle. A model of the lodging process has been used for estimating ideotype parameters of a lodging proof wheat plant (Figure 1) in absence of natural lodging.